You are warmly invited to join us for a very special 57th IMCL Conference!

The IMCL is the premier international leadership conference on urban quality of life since 1985, bringing
together many of the world’s most innovative and successful mayors, planners, economic development
specialists, designers, developers, NGO officials, and researchers and scholars. Importantly, the IMCL
conferences cover not just big cities but also small towns and suburbs, since such a large percentage of
the world’s inhabitants live in these areas, and many of the world’s social, economic and environmental
challenges occur there too.

We’ll gather this year in Carmel, Indiana, a fascinating USA case study of transformation from a sprawling bedroom
community to a walkable, diverse, thriving and livable town. Using Carmel as one concrete example, we’ll ask, what
are the effective new tools and strategies to bring positive change to suburban areas? What are the barriers Carmel
and other similar success stories faced, and how did they overcome them? (Or if they didn’t, what can we learn from
those lessons too?) What are their successes and lessons learned, and what can other places learn from them?

Our conference venue, the beautiful Center for the Performing Arts in the new city center of Carmel, Indiana.

And we’ll examine other related challenges for cities and towns today, including the crisis of affordable housing,
the need for climate resilience and adaptation, promoting neighborhood health, achieving urban equity, promoting
active mobility, age-friendly cities, neighborhoods for children, and much more. We’ll also consider the timeless
requirements for human scale architecture and mixed-use urban fabric, for reviving city and town centers, and
creating vibrant public places where people can gather for farmers markets, festivals, outdoor cafes and community
social life.

We’ll hear from leading researchers about the best evidence on emerging challenges and effective methods,
including financial tools, regulatory innovations, design strategies, and promising (and occasionally worrisome)
new technologies. We’ll hear from practitioners on the front lines about their successes and challenges, and the
latest research on effective approaches. We’ll learn the latest trends from around North America, Europe, and other
parts of the world, in livable and sustainable development.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS INCLUDE:

Laura
Petrella
Head of the City Planning,
Extension and Design Unit
at UN-Habitat

Christopher
Leinberger
Professor at George
Washington University,
Developer, Researcher,
Author and Former
Nonresident Senior Fellow
at the Metropolitan Policy
Program of The Brookings
Institution, Washington DC.

Elizabeth
Plater-Zyberk
Pioneering urbanist and
architect, and co-author of
Suburban Nation: The Rise
of Sprawl and the Decline of
the American Dream

Ellen
Dunham-Jones
Co-author of Retrofitting
Suburbia, Professor
at Georgia Institute
of Technology,
and a leading authority on
suburban redevelopment

• Learning from each other: the role of the USA and Europe as collaborators and (better) role models

2020 IMCL URBAN DESIGN COMPETITION

IMCL was founded on the premise that the physical design of the city, especially its public spaces and general
architectural character, is enormously important to the daily well-being of all citizens. Urban design plays an equally
important role as a critical nurturing influence, especially for children and the elderly.

The 2020 IMCL Urban Design Competition is intended to highlight the physical design/redesign of elements of the
city that demonstrate successful solutions to common urban problems.

The Competition is not simply a beauty contest, although a truly Livable City is our highest art form, but a search
for exceptionally well-designed projects that embody a natural fitness to purpose; projects that take advantage of
and celebrate the unique and diverse opportunities of urban life; projects that reflect, respect and enhance their
place, culture and citizenry; projects that are socially and environmentally responsible, and promise to be beloved
by future generations as well.